Manufacturing the Magic: How Walt riding the rails led to rides at Disneyland

The Jim Hill Media Podcast Network

Jim Hill Media Podcast Network

Tv & Film, Society & Culture, Places & Travel

4.8 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 12 July 2025

⏱️ 46 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In the 18th installment of this educational series, Shelly & Noe Valladolid explore how Walt Disney’s lifelong fascination with trains impacted the development of his family fun park. Special guest Roger Colton sheds light on this specific aspect of Disneyland history. Throughout this episode, listeners will learn about: * Why is Walt’s visit to the Chicago Railroad Fair in 1948 considered such an important moment in the development history of Disneyland * Which specific Disneyland attraction was inspired by Walt & Ward Kimball’s stop at Greenfield Village * How the miniature steam train Walt had set up in the backyard of his Holmby Hills home influenced the design of Disneyland *Which lands at Disneyland Park were directly influenced by what Walt & Ward saw at the Chicago Railroad Fair * How many steam trains did Disneyland Park have in its fleet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome aboard Pink Monorail. I'm your pilot, Michelle Valladolid, and next to me is my co-pilot, Noah
0:12.4	Vaya D'Adead.
0:13.2	Hey, everybody. Last time, we talked about animatronics. This time, we're going to talk about Walt
0:19.4	Disney. Yes, it's time for Disneyland.
0:21.6	On December 5, 1901, Walter Elias Disney was born in his family's house in Chicago. The house is now a museum and children's learning center.
0:31.6	Elias and Flora Disney had five children, four boys and a girl. From most reports, Elias didn't believe in childhood play,
0:39.5	putting his sons to work as soon as they were able. This may have affected Walt in wanting to play
0:44.7	with ever bigger toys throughout his life. Flora was softer. When keeping a dairy farm,
0:50.7	Elias forbade the children from having butter on their bread. Flora buttered the bottoms of the bread
0:56.0	so Elias couldn't see. Elias moved his family from the city to a farm in Marcelline, Missouri, which Walt said
1:03.0	made him the person he was. He spent his formative years there. He was too young to work, so got to know
1:09.3	the farm animals, a pet dog, and a tree he called his dreaming tree.
1:13.6	In 1911, when Walt was 10 years old, Elias moved the family to Kansas City, Missouri, and he started Walt on a paper route.
1:21.6	Walt never saw a cent of pay. He briefly worked as a news butcher, selling snacks, cigarettes, newspapers, and the like.
1:29.5	He said he felt very important wearing a neat blue serge uniform with brass buttons,
1:35.3	a peaked cap, and a shiny badge on my lapel. He described the job as brief, exciting, and
1:41.1	unprofitable. Disney's Land by Richard Snow, Quoteswalled. As the train rolled
1:46.2	into one station after another, I stood beside the conductor on the car steps to enjoy the envious
1:51.8	stairs of youngsters waiting on the platform, he said. Railroads loomed large in the scheme of things,
1:58.0	and steam engines were formidable and exciting. The paper route paid
2:02.3	better, so back he went, dozing exhausted through his school classes and earning poor grades.
2:08.9	In Marcelline, a friendly doctor gave Walt a quarter, a huge sum of money to a child at that time,
	...

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